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Background: Introduction to Xen PV Bootloaders

In the very early days of Xen it was necessary for the host (domain 0)
administrator to explicitly supply a kernel (and perhaps initial
ramdisk) from the domain 0 filesystem in order to start a new guest.

This mostly worked and for some use cases, i.e. those where the host
admin wants very strict control over what each guest runs, was
desirable and remains so today.

However for other use cases it was rather inflexible since it meant
that the host administrator needed to be involved in what many
considered to be a guest administrator, or even distribution level,
decision i.e. the selection of which kernel to run, with what
parameters etc. Continue reading →

Now, historically, the Xen Project Wiki has hosted the XCP pages. But given the major shifts of the past year, coupled with the fact that XCP is not part of Xen Project but XenServer, the hosting situation has now changed. From now on, the archive of XCP pages will reside on the XenServer Wiki.

Where Can I Find the XCP Pages?

You can find the XCP archive on the XenServer Wiki under the XCP category:

Why Did We Need to Migrate the Pages at All? Why Not Just Leave Them As Is?

As part of the migration of Xen Project to the Linux Foundation, it is necessary to clearly delineate which things belong to the Xen Project as opposed to things which belong to other parties. XCP is not part of Xen Project and it does not belong to Linux Foundation. Therefore, it should not reside on Xen Project websites. It makes perfect sense for XCP to be hosted by XenServer.org, since it always has been part of the XenServer effort.

Why Migrate Pages at All? If XCP is Obsolete, Why Not Just Delete the Pages?

Just because XCP is obsolete, it doesn’t mean it is not used. There are still many, many XCP users in the world, and they deserve access to documentation. Eventually, they may become XenServer users and when that happens, the XenServer project can determine what to do with their Wiki pages. But that is not the case now, so a transition is necessary.

So What Happens to All the External Sites Which Link to XCP Pages on Wiki.XenProject.org?

The original XCP pages are in process of being replaced with links to the new pages on Wiki.XenServer.org. Most links are already in place, and the few stragglers should be handled in the next few weeks. There is a temporary archive of the XCP pages on Wiki.XenProject.org which will be removed at the end of the process once all the pages have been linked and verified.

Why Do I Still See XCP Downloads on www.XenProject.org?

We are coordinating with the XenServer.org folks to make sure that the XCP downloads remain available during the time of transition. Once the XCP downloads are available from XenServer.org, the downloads will disappear from www.XenProject.org.

What Happens If I Discover an XCP Wiki Page Which Does Not Exist on XenServer.org?

Contact me at russell (dot) pavlicek (at) XenProject.org and send me the link. I will coordinate with the XenServer.org team to see that the page is migrated.

We had a look at the documentation for Project Kronos, and decided that it needed some significant improvement, so there’s been a good deal of rewriting and restructuring.

You’ll now find a Project Kronos main page, with an introduction to the project, and a set of pages linked off it detailing the steps needed to go from a plain Debian or Ubuntu installation through to a working Xen + XCP implementation and working guest VMs.

We’ve also combined the documentation for Debian and Ubuntu into one set of instructions, noting differences where relevant.

Hopefully, this is going to make life much easier for people looking to try out XCP.

We’ve also tried to clarify the differences between the two ways of using XCP: as an ISO to install a complete system, or as a set of packages to set the XCP toolstack up as an addition to an existing Linux installation (as per Kronos).

The main idea is that new people who want to work on XCP can use this list for inspiration… each idea has a rough guesstimate of size/ knowledge required/ impact and an initial first contact (who either suggested the idea originally or who is willing to help someone work on it)

I have spoken with several community members today at Xen Summit and they have great project ideas for Xen but not enough time to work on them. I am also aware that many university students are looking for research projects for their masters or phd work and would like to contribute to Xen at the same time. To satisfy both parties I have created a new Wiki page where people can list project ideas; http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/Xen_Work.

For community members, please list the project idea and your contact information so students can get in touch with you for more information.

For students, please consider the many projects listed and contact the community member for more information.